Inside Yoga 162 (21/3/2016)

Charlotte Walker has tried numerous things to control her bipolar disorder and recently found that yoga helped to balance her life.

In an article on BBC website she describes how she started yoga again – having done some practice back in the 1990s – and although she found it hard physically she says that she feels “better mentally and physically, and sees less separation between the two”.

She says people who know her say she is now “more balanced” and “people keep telling me how well I look”.

Charlotte adds that “internally, I feel a lightness I want to hold onto” which is such a relevant observation when it comes to yoga – because I often say that we are aiming to rid ourselves of what we don’t want in our lives, by getting rid of the stuff weighing ourselves down – and understandably once we feel lighter, we want to hold onto this experience.

She also says “stressful events aren’t so stressful. I’m not so swamped by anxiety.” And with reference to her bipolar, she adds “I still get the odd elated day or occasionally low but (the yoga) class seems to balance me out.”

Charlotte finishes the article by saying “yoga’s become part of my life again…it’s helped me find the middle ground.”

The Buddha’s teachings are called the Middle Way, and this is in essence what we want in life, a path where the extremes do not knock us over and cause us to lose our way, where our practice helps us to maintain a sense of balance.

To read Charlotte article on the BBC website see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-34833015

To read her blog, Purple Persuasion, about mental health by a person with bipolar disorder, see https://purplepersuasion.wordpress.com/

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